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Brooke Henderson finished fourth in the individual event at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship at Angus Glen on Wednesday. But from all the hullabaloo going on afterwards, you might have thought she had won.

Shortly after the medals were presented for the individual and team events at the 16-team tournament (Henderson led Canada to a third-place showing in the team event), the Smiths Falls. Ont., teenager was swarmed by golfers from the other teams.

In fact, as Dan Pino, Golf Canada director of corporate communications, attempted to wrangle the players from the top three teams — the U.S., Sweden and Canada — on to a hill for some photos, members of the New Zealand team rushed over to podium to get Henderson’s autograph, mucking up Pino’s schedule.

And then after the pictures were finally taken, players from the American and Swedish teams lined up to have more pictures taken with Henderson, who posed patiently with a big smile on her face for each one.

At one point, 15-year-old Mika Liu of Bradenton, Fla., who actually won the tournament by shooting an impressive nine-under 279, shouted to her teammates standing beside Henderson: “I never got my picture with Brooke!”

This is what happens when you’ve just turned 17 and you’re the No.1-ranked female amateur player in the world.

For Henderson, the event wasn’t her best golf (finishing fourth with a 2-under 286), but there’s no denying that she has had an absolutely incredible year and is poised to explode on to the world scene in a huge way. But the question is, will that be as an amateur or professional?

Henderson gets a break from golf for a few months as she heads home to Smiths Falls to finish Grade 12. But in the next two weeks she’ll decide whether to turn pro or to accept a golf scholarship at the University of Florida. The consensus is she’ll turn pro. But whatever she does, Canadian golf officials and fans are thrilled that there is a Canuck superstar in the making.

Henderson is widely considered the best female golf prospect this country has seen in ... well, perhaps ever.

All the Eastern Ontario lass did this season, as a 16-year-old, was finish as the top amateur at the LPGA U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, was runner-up at both the Canadian and American amateur championships, was the low-scoring individual at the world amateur championships and won a number of other prestigious tournaments including the Porter Cup.

In September, she became the first Canadian female to be listed No.1 in the world amateur rankings. It has been just a great year for the personable Henderson, though one of her personal highlights had nothing to do with a final score or a particular round. It occurred earlier this week when a bus load of her friends from her high school in Smiths Falls travelled to Angus Glen to watch her play.

“It was incredible. They woke up at 3 in the morning and drove down here for an 8 o’clock tee time which is unbelievable, they’re high school students and they like their sleep,” Henderson said with a laugh. “It was so much fun. They’ve never watched me golf, they don’t really know what it’s like, so it’s nice to be able to show them that when I’m away all the time, this is what I’m doing.”

Walking the back nine at Angus Glen to watch Henderson play the final round alongside Liu and Denmark’s Line Hansen (whom some media wags christened The Angry Dane as a result of her constantly slapping her hip in frustration), Golf Canada chief sport officer Jeff Thompson smiled when asked what Henderson’s emergence as a golfer might mean to the sport in this country.

“If the next Olympics were today, she would be competing for Canada, which is exciting,” said Thompson. “But she’ll be 19 in Rio (for the 2016 Games) and that’s just at the beginning of her career and she’ll have a lot more after that.”

Indeed, as golf returns to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, Canadian golf fans are beginning to talk about what golfers from the Great White North may be able to accomplish at the Olympics and on the PGA and LPGA Tours in the years ahead.

Besides Henderson, the women’s program has produced some excellent players, including LPGA pros Jennifer Kirby, Rebecca Lee Bentham, Sue Kim and Kent State’s Jennifer Ha, while the men are also on the rise. Three more Canucks (Adam Hadwin, Roger Sloan and Nick Taylor) will join such Canadian standouts as Graham DeLaet and David Hearn on the PGA Tour next season, and it was also a great season for the amateur men. Team Canada (Adam Svensson, Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith) finished second only two strokes behind the Americans at the 2014 men’s World Amateur Team Championship at Karuizawa, Japan.

“I think Canadian golf in general is on a rise,” said Henderson. “There are a lot of good young players both on the men’s and women’s side. I think we’re going to see a big difference with the number of players on Tour and how successful they are going to be.”

For Henderson, the sky seems to be the limit. But right now, her main focus is to head back home, spend time with her family and friends and enjoy her last year of high school, and then decide whether to go to college or turn pro.